Next week at the New York Auto Show, General Motors will unveil three concepts for its new minicar–and it’ll invite customers to vote on which one should actually go into production. People can check out the models and choose their favorite at www.vote4chevrolet.com; “the results will help Chevy determine U.S. interest in the minicar segment, and which design resonates best,” the company said in a statement.

What’s really interesting: All three concepts were designed in GM’s design studio in Incheon, South Korea. Expect more of the same. In our April issue, Fara Warner reveals that GM’s new LaCrosse sedan, which is due out by 2009, is being designed largely in GM’s center outside Shanghai.

Chinese designers creating a car for America–and for the rest of the world, too. GM has figured out that America doesn’t have a lock on design chops. That’s why it’s pitting its design teams around the world against each other in contests to dream up each new model. It’s a glimpse of a new, forward-thinking GM–and of a new creative order.